Valentino Rossi “Quite Happy” with Day 1 Practice

“I’m quite happy with the first day, it was not so bad and we stayed with the top guys in the two practices. It’s a very difficult race track to find the right settings. It is very physical for sure and Sunday will be a very long race. I feel quite confident with the bike, it’s not so bad but we have to try to do better and improve the balance, braking and acceleration. We are working to improve our performance as we are not so far from the top but we are not yet there. We hope to improve tomorrow to find a better balance for going faster and to get a good rhythm.”

Yamaha Factory Racing Team’s Valentino Rossi finished the first practice day with the fourth fastest time of 1.22.346. His teammate, Jorge Lorenzo who is recovering from his second surgery in two weeks, turned in the sixth fastest lap of the day at 1.22.467.

Rookie Marc Marquez of the Repsol Honda Team made his Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca debut by turning in the day’s fastest time of 1.22.040.